Steve McQueen's womanising ways stopped him from being murdered by Charles Manson

Quite literally The Great Escape

Something of a womaniser in his day, it turns out that Steve McQueen's philandering ways might just have saved him from the fairly grim prospect of being murdered by Charles Manson and his followers.

In an interview with the National Post, McQueen's former wife Neile Adams revealed that the actor was due to attend the 1969 dinner that saw the pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others brutally murdered by the serial killer and cult leader, but McQueen "ran into a chickie and decided to go off with her instead", says Adams.

Sharon Tate (Getty)

"Going off with that girl saved his life," Adams continued. "After that, he became more paranoid and wouldn't let me go anywhere without a gun."

A couple of months prior to Tate's murder, Manson approached McQueen outside his Solar (the name of his production company) offices in San Francisco.

Manson had a script he thought Solar should produce, and was campaigning to have it made. According to reports, an altercation took place between the two, resulting in McQueen breaking Manson's nose.

This obviously didn't go down too well with Manson, and resulted in McQueen being added to a Hollywood 'hit list' that included Tom Jones and Frank Sinatra.

A letter from McQueen to his lawyer

The original letter. (Letters of Note)

Despite avoiding a gruesome death at the hands of Manson, McQueen's own demise was far from pleasant; succumbing to cancer caused by Asbestos exposure at the age of just 50.